Short Range Smectic and Long Range Nematic Order in the Pseudogap Phase of Cuprates

Abstract

We present a model for the combined nematic and `smectic' or stripe-like orders seen in recent scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments in cuprates. We model the stripe order as an electronic charge density wave with associated Peierls distortion -- a `Pomeranchuk wave'. Disorder restricts this primary order to nanoscale domains, while secondary coupling to strain generates nematic order with considerably longer range.